Cardinals gather one last time before conclave to elect new pope

By Michael Pearson. Richard Allen Greene and Dan Rivers, CNN

Updated 0300 GMT (1100 HKT) March 12, 2013

Photos: Vatican prepares to choose a pope36 photos

Vatican prepares to choose a pope – Pope Francis, the Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, appears on the St. Peter's Basilica's balcony after being elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, March 13, at the Vatican.

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Photos: Vatican prepares to choose a pope36 photos

Vatican chooses a new pope – White smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel signals a new pope has been chosen on Wednesday, March 13. The 115 cardinal-electors, meeting in strict secrecy, needed to reach a two-thirds plus one vote to elect the 266th pontiff.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A woman looks to the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on St. Peter's Square, waiting for the smoke on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Black smoke billows from the chimney, indicating that the College of Cardinals has failed to elect a new pope on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A woman prays while she waits for the selection of a new pope on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A nun waits for the results at the Vatican on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – People use flags as shelter from the rain on March 13 in Vatican City.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A seagull stands on a statue of St. Peter as Catholics and other observers await the results on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – People wait under umbrellas for the College of Cardinals to elect a new pope.

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Photos: Vatican prepares to choose a pope36 photos

Vatican chooses a new pope – A seagull perches on a statue in St. Peter's Square on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – People shelter under umbrellas while they wait in St. Peter's Square for news on the election of a new pope on March 13 in Vatican City.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Crowds gather in St. Peter's Square on the second day of the conclave on March 13.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Cardinals attend the religious Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, Vatican City, on March 12. The Catholic Church's 115 cardinal electors are taking part in the Mass ahead of entering the conclave for a papal election that observers say has no clear favorite.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A pilgrim prays in St. Peter's Square as cardinals attend mass before entering the conclave on March 12, in Vatican City, Vatican.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – A few pilgrims are present in St. Peter's Square as night falls on Monday, March 11.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – St. Peter's Basilica is seen at sunset on the eve of the conclave on March 11.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan is surrounded by media on March 11 as he leaves the final congregation before cardinals enter the conclave to vote for a new pope.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet is photographed by media as he leaves the final congregation on March 11.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Fernando Canini, administrator of the Museo delle Cere (wax museum), prepares the figure of Pope Benedict XVI at the museum on March 11 in Rome.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Tourists take in the view from the cupola on St. Peter's Basilica on March 10.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – People gather at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sunday, March 10, ahead of the cardinals' conclave.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Nuns pray inside St. Peter's Basilica on March 10.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Priests pray in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday, March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Vatican City firefighters set up the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel on March 9 ahead of the papal conclave.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Vatican workers made final preparations on the Sistine Chapel on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Members of the Vatican Fire Brigade install the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Workers set up inside the Sistine Chapel as preparations begin before the papal conclave on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – The sun sets over St Peter's Basilica as cardinals prepare to vote for a new pope on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin greets colleagues as he arrives for a pre-conclave meeting on Saturday, March 9.

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Photos: Vatican prepares to choose a pope – The stoves that will signal the outcome of papal voting are installed inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on March 8.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Italian Cardinals Angelo Scola (left) and Ennio Antonelli arrive for a pre-conclave meeting on Friday, March 8.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana arrives at the Vatican on March 8.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Colombia arrives for a meeting on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan of the United States arrives for a meeting on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Cardinals Odilo Scherrer (left) of Brazil and Geraldo Agnelo of Italy arrive for a meeting at the Vatican on March 9.

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Vatican chooses a new pope – Two painters prepare the walls of the Sistine Chapel on Friday, March 8 in advance of the papal conclave.

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Story highlights

Tuesday's pre-conclave Mass will be open to the public, the Vatican says

Cardinals do not have to vote Tuesday but probably will, a Vatican spokesman says

Preparations are largely complete for the secret vote

The longest conclave in the 20th century lasted five days

The Sistine Chapel is ready. The new pope's clothes are laid out. Now it's up to the cardinals.

The work to elect a successor to retired Pope Benedict XVI begins in earnest Tuesday, with a morning Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

The service -- open to the public -- will be the last public event featuring the 115 cardinals who will choose the new spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Cardinals taking part in the process will then walk to the Sistine Chapel, chanting prayers as they go, to begin the secret election called the conclave.

After that, the only clue the world will have of what is happening inside will be periodic puffs of smoke from a copper chimney installed over the weekend in the Sistine Chapel.

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Rome was abuzz Monday with preparations for the conclave, from the 5,600 journalists the Vatican said had been accredited to cover the event to the red curtains unfurled from the central balcony at St. Peter's, the spot where the world will meet the new pope once he is elected.

Tailors have also completed sets of clothes for the new pope to wear as soon as he is elected.

Video released by the Vatican over the weekend showed the installation of a pair of stoves inside the chapel. One is used to burn the cardinals' ballots after they are cast and the other to send up the smoke signal -- the one that alerts the world that a vote has been taken and whether there's a new pope.

Workers could be seen scaling the roof of the chapel Saturday to install the chimneys that will carry the smoke signals to the world.

When we'll see the first smoke is anyone's guess.

The cardinals will probably vote Tuesday, but they don't have to, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Monday.

If they do, it's likely the first smoke might be seen around 8 p.m. (3 p.m. ET), he said.

When cardinals elected Benedict in 2005, the white smoke signaling the decision came about six hours after an earlier, inconclusive vote, he said.

It took another 50 minutes for Benedict to dress, pray and finally appear on the balcony of St. Peter's, he said.

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The longest conclave held since the turn of the 20th century lasted five days.

On Monday, cardinals held the last of several days of meetings to discuss church affairs and get acquainted. Lombardi said 152 cardinals were on hand for the final meeting.

Church rules prevent cardinals over the age of 80 from participating in the election of a pope but allow them to attend the "General Congregations" that precede the vote.

On Friday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, one of about a dozen leading candidates to become pope, said the meetings have focused less on scandals facing the church and more on spiritual matters.

"We cardinals sure are praying a lot," Dolan wrote.

Contrary to media reports, he wrote in a blog post, the focus of the cardinals' meetings is much the same as it was two millenniums ago, namely: "How most effectively to present the Person, message, and invitation of Jesus to a world that, while searching for salvation and eternal truth, are also at times doubting, skeptical, too busy, or frustrated."

He said, "Those are the 'big issues.' You may find that hard to believe, since the 'word on the street' is that all we talk about is corruption in the Vatican, sexual abuse, money. Do these topics come up? Yes! Do they dominate? No!"

The scandals came up again Monday when the Vatican Press Office denied conclave accreditation to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who wrote a book about scandals within the Vatican. The book was based partly on documents leaked from Benedict's personal apartments.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told CNN the accreditation had been denied because Nuzzi applied as a documentary filmmaker, not as a journalist.

Meanwhile, the Italian press is full of speculation about which cardinal may win enough support from his counterparts to be elected, and what regional alliances are being formed.

The United States has 11 of the 115 votes, making it the second largest national bloc after Italy.

Sixty of the cardinals are from Europe and 67 were appointed by Benedict, who stepped down at the end of last month, becoming the first pontiff to do so in six centuries.